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Pavlov’s dogs EDITORIAL 09/20/2011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Pavlov’s dogs

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
09/20/2011
Noynoy’s P1.8-trillion budget for 2012 breezed through the House, courtesy of Speaker Sonny Belmonte and the pork-starved allies and foes alike in the chamber, proving anew correct Ivan Pavlov’s theory on conditioning, using his dog.

In Pavlov’s experiment on conditioned reflexes, he noticed that dogs tended to salivate before food was actually delivered to their mouths, a reaction which he called “psychic secretion.”

By using a bell, Pavlov conditioned his dogs to associate its ringing with food and after some time, dogs already salivated upon hearing the bell, thus his classic findings about stimulating reflexes.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, on the other hand, similarly used the pork barrel as the stimulant bell for congressmen to pass the 2012 budget without any considerable trouble from them..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com1.html

Big laugh FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 09/20/2011

Big laugh

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
09/20/2011
Noynoy flew to the United States Sunday to flaunt his “credentials” as a transparent leader and a “corruption fighter” who shares Washington’s “vision of accountability and good governance” in a New York forum which just launchedthe Open Government Partnership, apart from saying that he would be using his trip to get more foreign investments.

There is doubt that he can succeed at that, despite his propaganda machine daily churning out its mantra of the righteous path, accountability and transparency because most, if not all leaders, know that their speeches lead to nothing, except in trying to make themselves look good before the others.

Then too, most if not all these leaders and their aides, certainly know that despite all the talk about good governance, accountability and transparency, what they really do, especially in the case of Noynoy, is to pay lip service to all these.

The world was witness to the Aug. 23 Manila hostage crisis where Noynoy not only muffed it as a leader, but also really muffed up his claim of making officials involved in that botched hostage rescue accountable. Worse, this non-accountability marked in Noynoy’s administration has become even clearer with his penchant for protecting his KKKs (cronies, classmates and shooting buddies) while running after his political foes and engaging in trial and conviction by publicity, since there is little solid evidence presented against his foes..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com2.html

Maruti lock-out highlights India’s labor unease focus 09/20/2011

Maruti lock-out highlights India’s labor unease

focus

09/20/2011
NEW DELHI — India’s top automaker Maruti Suzuki, already grappling with sliding sales, is in a test of nerves with its factory workers after production was hit by a dispute over alleged sabotage.

Output at the Japanese-controlled firm’s Manesar plant in northern India has been thrown out of gear for three weeks after Maruti accused disaffected workers of deliberately damaging cars on the assembly line.

The subsequent lock-out has rapidly come to be viewed as a test case for India’s car industry and wider foreign investment in the country’s fast-growing economy as Maruti bosses say they are determined to face down the workers.

“Global investors are watching this very closely,” Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at Delhi-based share traders SMC Global Securities, told AFP. “India’s low-cost manufacturing growth story is built upon labor stability.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com3.html

Maruti lock-out highlights India’s labor unease focus 09/20/2011

Maruti lock-out highlights India’s labor unease

focus

09/20/2011
NEW DELHI — India’s top automaker Maruti Suzuki, already grappling with sliding sales, is in a test of nerves with its factory workers after production was hit by a dispute over alleged sabotage.

Output at the Japanese-controlled firm’s Manesar plant in northern India has been thrown out of gear for three weeks after Maruti accused disaffected workers of deliberately damaging cars on the assembly line.
The subsequent lock-out has rapidly come to be viewed as a test case for India’s car industry and wider foreign investment in the country’s fast-growing economy as Maruti bosses say they are determined to face down the workers.

“Global investors are watching this very closely,” Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at Delhi-based share traders SMC Global Securities, told AFP. “India’s low-cost manufacturing growth story is built upon labor stability.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com3.html

The Filipino movie industry NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 09/20/2011

The Filipino movie industry

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
09/20/2011
Recent indie blockbuster starring Eugene Domingo “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank” has been voted to represent the Philippines in next year’s Oscar Foreign Language Film Category, and this early is touted to do better than Shamcey Supsup. The indies are alive and kicking, they say. As a friend forwarded on her cellphone: “2005 — mains 52 digital 1. 2006, — m45 d11. 2007 — m41 d 12. 2008 m33 d24. 2009 — m34 d 36. 2010 — m28 d45.”

That Greek to you? Let’s translate it from cell phone text language.

In 2005, 52 mainstream Filipino movies were produced. Mainstream movies refer to those made the conventional way using genre stories and romantic comedies galore, under the protection of a studio with a bigger budget for production and publicity, starring stars under contract of the studio or the TV network — given that these days, mainstream filmmaking has been completely coopted by ABS-CBN, GMA Network, and ABC-TV5 with a foot in the door. Only one digital movie was done in 2005..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com4.html

Déjà vu in the Middle East? AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 09/20/2011

Déjà vu in the Middle East?

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
09/20/2011
As North Atlantic Treaty Organization(Nato) cheer leaders celebrated their apparent victory in Libya, former British Prime Minister Anthony Charles Lynton Blair indicated that he thought it might be a jolly good idea, as a next step, to have a spot of regime change in Syria and Iran.

As Western oil companies fly emissaries into Libya to claim their share of the spoils, it is worth remembering that Britain’s relations with Iran (formerly Persia) have also been dominated by that black substance, and Blair’s political forebears on both sides of the Atlantic have already demonstrated the perils of a foreign-backed coup in that country.

Although nominally independent, following World War II, Iran was under British influence, in particular due to the latter’s participation in the exploitation of its oil, a monopoly having been granted to British engineer William Knox D’Arcy in 1901. Oil was discovered two years later, and in 1905 D’Arcy became part-owner of the new British Oil Co. The British government bought D’Arcy out in 1908, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. was founded the following year. In 1923, it appointed Winston Churchill as a lobbyist..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com5.html

Cold, dim room sheds light on Singapore history FEATURE 09/20/2011

Cold, dim room sheds light on Singapore history

FEATURE

09/20/2011
SINGAPORE — A nearly illegible letter from almost two centuries ago is kept in a dim, cold room in downtown Singapore accessible only to a privileged few via an electronic swipe card.

In flowing script dated June 9, 1819, Singapore’s colonial founder Stamford Raffles described the island’s formative days as a regional trading port in the Malay archipelago, and it turned out to be prophetic.

“The Settlement I had the satisfaction to form in this very centrical and commanding station has had every success ... our Port is already crowded with shipping from all the native Ports in the Archipelago,” he wrote.

The letter, as well as some 7,000 other items in the room, form the Rare Materials Collection (RMC) of Singapore’s National Library, offering a more intimate look into the past of what is now one of the world’s busiest ports..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com6.html

Cagayan casinos open doors to local gamblers VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 09/20/2011

Cagayan casinos open doors to local gamblers

VIEWPOINTS
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
09/20/2011
No. There is nothing comforting, much less funny about the above additional feature of this Gambling Republic. The news in big and bold letters was in fact just recently carried by a respectable national daily. Yes. This means the following: that the casinos in the country remain much alive and well; that the Philippine casinos are in reality for the patronage not only of foreigners but also in effect intended for the Filipino gamblers; that the same casinos are ably promoting the vice of gambling all over the land.

There is even the allegation made by gambling officials concerned that the casinos are closed to government officials. Those who know better are thus much amused by such promotional gambit of false self-righteousness. It is therefore understandable that they have a big laugh every time they are told of the alleged amusing Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) norm or principle. This is why they shout back to said officials, “Tell it to the Martians!” It is true that some people can be fooled some time — but not all the people, all the time..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110920com7.html

2 ex-poll execs link Abalos, Isafp in ’07 fraud ops By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/20/2011

2 ex-poll execs link Abalos, Isafp in ’07 fraud ops

By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/20/2011

Known poll fraud operators turning Department of Justice’s witnesses appear to be willing to become whistleblowers in exchange for being placed under the Witness Protection Program of the Aquino government, and either get their cases of election sabotage dropped, or be given immunity for their crimes.

Two former Commission on Elections (Comelec) lawyers facing criminal charges for “election sabotage” in North and South Cotabato during the 2007 elections, say their former boss, Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and former justice secretary Alberto Agra, acting on orders from Malacañang, had a direct hand in wholesale cheating, using military intelligence officers as their enforcers.

The affidavits of the two, Yogie G. Martirizar and Lilian A. Suan-Radam, who were Acting Provincial Election Supervisor and chairman of the Provincial Board of Canvassers of North and South Cotabato respectively, were made available to mediamen yesterday by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110920hed1.html

Palace clears MILF in Maguindanao massacre, dares Kato to prove claim By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 09/20/2011

Palace clears MILF in Maguindanao massacre, dares Kato to prove claim

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 09/20/2011
Malacañang yesterday took the cudgels for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and refuted claims by renegade commander Ameril Umbra Kato that some members of the MILF were actually involved in the Maguindanao massacre.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, during a press briefing, said Kato’s allegation has no basis and would not affect the government’s ongoing peace negotiations with the MILF.

“That’s not true. Those involved in the Maguindanao massacre were already charged in court,” he stressed.
“There are a number of them who are still at large. They have been identified and so we are going after them.

We have to deal with the MILF, the leadership of the MILF, because we are committed to peace in ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao),” Lacierda added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110920hed4.html

Solgen seeks suspension of DBP execs involved in Ongpin behest loan By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/20/2011

Solgen seeks suspension of DBP execs involved in Ongpin behest loan

By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/20/2011

More than a dozen incumbent officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) face preventive suspension for their alleged part in facilitating the grant of a controversial P660 million “behest loan” to businessman Roberto Ongpin’s firm two years ago.

In an 11-page motion for reconsideration before the Office of the Ombudsman, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz said the preventive suspension against 14 incumbent DBP offficials would “prevent them from using their position to influence potential witnesses or tamper the records which may be vital in the prosecution of the case” and stressed that the preventive suspension is warranted pending the preliminary investigation of the complaints for graft and violations of the banking laws filed against them, in connection with the questionable loans granted to Ongpin’s Delta Ventures Resources Inc. (DVRI).

“Respondents’ continued stay in office may prejudice the just, fair and independent disposition of the case filed against them. The allegations in the complaint and the documents attached thereto will readily show that the evidence of guilt against them is strong,” Cadiz, who has been designated by President Aquino as lead counsel of DBP in this case, told the Ombudsman..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110920nat1.html

RP shows progress in protecting women from violence in conflict areas By Michaela P. del Callar 09/20/2011

RP shows progress in protecting women from violence in conflict areas

By Michaela P. del Callar 09/20/2011

The Philippines is one of the only two Asian countries dealing with insurgency that has showed progress in preventing violence against women in conflict areas, the United Nations said yesterday.

Nepal has joined the Philippines in successfully formulating a national action plan for women, peace and security in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which addresses not only the undue influence of war on women, but also the integral role women should and do play in conflict management, conflict resolution, and sustainable peace.

Other conflict-affected countries, such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, were urged by the UN to push greater role for women in leadership, social development and conflict prevention.

“Countries across our vast and diverse region are at different stages of armed conflicts, some are in the midst of wars, others face post-conflict challenges. Yet at whatever stage in the process, the impact on women and their integral role in peace-building and recovery processes need to be highlighted,” said Ethel Sigimanu, permanent secretary, Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs of Solomon Islands, who chaired the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security last week in Bangkok..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110920nat5.html

Shamcey named outstanding citizen of Makati 09/20/2011

Shamcey named outstanding citizen of Makati

09/20/2011
The city government of Makati conferred yesterday the “Gawad Lakan Tagkan,” the city’s highest award of merit, on Miss Universe 3rd runner-up Shamcey Supsup during her visit to her high school alma mater, Makati High School.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay himself presented the award, which was named after Lakan Tagkan, the pre-colonial ruler of the vast kingdom of Namayan in which Makati used to belong.

Binay said the city confers the Gawad Lakan Tagkan to Supsup in recognition of the great success and honor she has brought to Makati City and the entire country.

“We regard Ms. Shamcey Supsup as a worthy recipient of the Gawad Lakan Tagkan for she is truly an inspiration to the Filipino youth. She is a wellspring of wisdom and experience, and an outstanding model to all Filipinos and other citizens of the world,” Binay said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110920met5.html

Palace mocks Piston for failed transport strike By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Gina Peralta-Elorde 09/20/2011

Palace mocks Piston for failed transport strike

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Gina Peralta-Elorde 09/20/2011

Malacañang expressed dismay over the refusal of some transport groups to heed warnings for them to forego with their transport strike while claiming that the protest was a big failure and has not disrupted public transport.

At a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda claimed that the decision of the militant transport organizations, led by the Pagkakaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) to proceed with their strike even after President Aquino’s dialog with the transport sector only affected “a very, very few people.”

“We are not happy with their decision but as we had proven yesterday, we are prepared to meet them head on with respect to their decision to go on strike,” Lacierda said.

“If you’re looking at the present situation right now, we have made sure that the riding public will not be prejudiced and I think we have done our job. And there are very few, again, very, very few people were stranded in very, very limited areas,” he added..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110920met1.html

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